During McDonnell's policy tour, topic of gifts persists

CHESAPEAKE — In town to talk about policy achievements and new business for the state, Gov. Bob McDonnell was nevertheless peppered with questions about a gift scandal that has cast a cloud over the end of his term.

The governor visited a Virginia Beach bakery Tuesday morning, spoke at a Portsmouth community college and announced a grain export contract worth just shy of $100 million between a Perdue AgriBusiness terminal in Chesapeake and a Chinese firm as part of an 20-plus-city statewide tour to turn the narrative of his final months in office back to public policy.

Still, during a call-in talk radio show in Norfolk before those events, McDonnell was asked about gifts, reminding listeners he has apologized. "The public trust had been somewhat undermined," he acknowledged, by a series of revelations that a wealthy campaign donor gave high-dollar gifts to McDonnell family members and tens of thousands of dollars' worth of loans to a real estate company he co-owns with his sister.

He told reporters outside Sugar Plum Café later that the donor, Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, and his company had received no preferential treatment or state money as a result of the gifts and loans, which have been returned and repaid.

Though Williams or Star Scientific employees were granted audiences with members of McDonnell's administration, McDonnell insisted that those meetings were hardly out of the ordinary.

Three meetings were mentioned in a report put together by Anthony F. Troy, a former attorney general who was appointed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to represent McDonnell in legal matters related to a state inquiry into the gifts.

"Governors listen to people, whether a person's a contributor … or a food bank," he said. "Nobody receives special treatment."

He also told reporters that he wants his remaining 150 days in office to be "laser focused" on policy. He described an aggressive schedule that will include implementing new education initiatives, overseeing an intelligent distribution of new road dollars and crafting a budget proposal in the $86 billion to $87 billion range.

Perdue deal

McDonnell finished his Hampton Roads swing in the afternoon when he unveiled an international trade deal that will push 8 million bushels of soybeans through a private shipping terminal and on to China.

He told a crowd at Perdue's deep-draft grain terminal that an April trade trip to China, that included both government and Perdue officials, helped to cement a deal with Jiusan Oil & Grain Industries Group Co., which he compared to a Fortune 500 company.

Assuming the current $12.10-a-bushel market price for soybeans in Virginia holds, it will be worth roughly $97 million, he said.

Noting Asia's thirst for American grains, and soybeans in particular, McDonnell also plugged the product.

China's grain shortage has also been cited as a reason that a meat company there, Shuanghui International, was willing to pay a premium to acquire local pork giant Smithfield Foods. That deal, worth $4.7 billion in cash, has not been completed.

"If any of you don't have a vision of what you're going into, I'd really suggest soybeans," he said.

The deal, he said, means four additional vessel calls for Perdue and over a period ending in 2014. He said he did not have an estimate of how many jobs might be created as a result.

Dick Willey, president of Perdue AgriBusiness, called Jiusan a "new customer," and said state officials "played a role in introducing us."

"Over 30 percent of our sales at Perdue AgriBusiness are international," Willey continued, and "most of those sales are generated right here."

As a result, he said, there would be continued investments made at the Chesapeake terminal.

Perdue has also been in talks over leasing space for another grain terminal at the mostly vacant Portsmouth Marine Terminal, which is owned by the Virginia Port Authority.

Rodney Oliver, VPA's interim executive director, attended the announcement, and said those talks are continuing but because of the volume of grain involved and the number of resulting rail shipments, rail congestion issues still must be worked out.